I started DD1 when she was 2, i was working full time and my mum watched her for me but i also wanted her to have some child contact.
I started by ringing around the centres in my area to find ones that had availabilties on the day that i wanted, (tuesdays) when it was confirmed they had that day, i went in and had a look at them, sussed out which ones were to my liking ie play areas, planned and free playtime, teaching schedules and so on and i then made the final choice, got the paperwork all sorted and handed it back in.
With FTB you just call centrelink and tell them the centres CRN and then they link it up with the centre when you give the centre your centrelink number. It then works out what kind of rebate your allowed.
Most centres should let you do a trial day, to see how he goes and then on his first real day they let you stay for a bit until hei is settled and then let you call throught out the day to check.
My DD used to cry a bit when i dropped her off yet when it came to leaving she never wanted to go.